The Lady in Red?

Columbia Square

Ray Pinker's Color Photos

Ray Pinker, chemist and crime lab technician for the LAPD, began his career in 1929 in the Police Scientific Investigation Division. The laboratory was just seven years old when Pinker joined the department and it was the first such lab in the country. He had a long, distinguished career that lasted almost 40 years. After his departure from the LAPD, he taught police science at Cal State Los Angeles. Pinker died in 1979 at the age of 74.

During his long career, he worked on high profile crimes and lesser known, solving many with his scientific methods.

Perhaps his most famous case was the murder of Elizabeth Short. By 1947, Pinker was using microscopic color photography to aid in crime detection. He said, "If juries could see the evidence as we see it in our investigations there would be more convictions of persons we know guilty of the crime charged and we would not have them back on our streets free to perpetrate more crimes."

According to the Los Angeles Times, "Color photos were first used by Pinker in the recent investigation of the mutilation murder of Elizabeth Short (the 'Black Dahlia.') Should the slayer ever be found he will be confronted in court with a variety of pictures thoroughly and accurately displaying all features of his butchery."

Deanna Durbin

When Beth Short was a student at Medford High School, her fellow students compared her to the hugely popular movie star, Deanna Durbin.

Beth was called "Medford's Deanna Durbin," not because of a shared musical talent, but because of Beth's physical resemblance to the singer and actress.

In the 1930s and 1940s, light opera singers, such as Irene Dunne, Jeanette MacDonald and Gloria Jean were very popular with movie audiences. Deanna Durbin was the overwhelming favorite and was the highest salaried female in the world in 1947.

She was a reluctant star, but as her producer, Joe Pasternak once said, "no one can take credit for discovering her. You can't hide that kind of light under a bushel. You just can't, no matter how hard you try!"

She was born Edna Mae Durbin in Canada in 1921, retired from Hollywood in 1948 and died in in France in 2013. Durbin eventually shunned Hollywood and lived in seclusion for decades. She once said that the actress Deanna Durbin was a creation of Hollywood and did not reflect the person, Edna Durbin.

Marilyn Monroe

“If you can make a woman laugh, you can make her do anything.” ~ Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

Over the years, claims have been made that Elizabeth Short and Marilyn Monroe knew each other. While it is possible that their paths crossed in Hollywood or that they might have had a nodding acquaintance, no evidence has ever been presented that verifies the claims.

Beth Short stayed with her father near the University of Southern California briefly in 1942. Then, in the last half of 1946 she returned to live for five months in L.A. and Hollywood.

Norma Jeane Baker, who did not become Marilyn Monroe until 1946, lived around L.A. much longer. Norma Jeane was born in Los Angeles in 1926, two years after the birth of Beth Short in Massachusetts.

In the years leading up to her marriage, Norma Jeane lived in and out of orphanages and foster homes in the Los Angeles area.

When Beth resided briefly in Los Angeles in 1942, Norma Jeane was attending Van Nuys High School and living with friends of her mother’s. While still in high school, an arrangement was made that 15 year old Norma Jeane marry neighbor Jim Dougherty. Dougherty said they dated a few times before he proposed and she said “yes.”

It has been repeated many times that the newlyweds celebrated their marriage at the Florentine Gardens in Hollywood, but Norma Jeane’s half sister, Berniece Baker Miracle, said that is not true. Their wedding and reception was held at the home of Chester Howell.

Norma Jeane had turned 16 shortly before her marriage. Jim was 21. He worked for the Lockheed Corporation in Burbank, while his new wife stayed home.

Beth returned to Southern California from the east in July, 1946. On Beth’s 22nd birthday, July 29, Norma Jeane received her first mention in a Hollywood gossip column. Beth was in Long Beach. A month later, Norma Jeane signed her first studio contract and changed her name to Marilyn Monroe. Around this time, Beth and her boyfriend moved from Long Beach to Hollywood and they lived at the Brevoort Apartments as Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Fickling.

After marrying Jim Dougherty in 1942, the couple lived in the San Fernando Valley. When Jim joined the Merchant Marines, they lived on Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of San Pedro. When her husband left for service in the Pacific, Norma Jeane lived with his mother in the Valley. In September, 1946, they divorced.

Following the split, Norma Jeane, now Marilyn, lived in Hollywood at the Studio Club from September, 1946 until the summer of 1947. It was around this time that both Marilyn and Beth lived in Hollywood and may have crossed paths. Beth moved from the Brevoort Apartments in late August and Marilyn moved into the Studio Club in September. Their residences were two blocks from each other.

Beth died in January, 1947, and in the fall, Marilyn moved to the El Palacio Apartments in West Hollywood.

Camp Cooke & the Cuties

Elizabeth Short

When Elizabeth Short arrived for work at the Camp Cooke post exchange in late January, 1943, the camp was still being built. It was huge in size and underwent major construction, the second phase being completed in February, 1943, soon after Beth’s arrival.

In March, 1941, the War Department authorized the army to locate land and build a camp in California as a training site for armored divisions. The camp was officially opened in October, 1941, but the attack on Pearl Harbor in December of that year accelerated the construction of Camp Cook, which covered over 90,000 acres on the central coast. The camp was named for Maj. General Phillip St. George Cooke, a veteran of the Indian Wars and the Civil War.

Early in the war, servicemen stationed at Camp Cooke had to seek entertainment in nearby Lompoc or Santa Maria. Activities were limited to movie houses, bars and churches. It wasn’t long before the USO and other service clubs began providing entertainment. Bob Hope brought the cast of his radio show to Camp Cooke in March, 1942 and more entertainers followed. The next month, two service clubs opened and dancing and socializing became popular. The Army brought in 250 chaperoned young women from surrounding towns and eventually even more from Burbank and Los Angeles.

Broadway musicals were put on and exhibition boxing matches with Joe Louis, World Heavy Weight Champion and others were staged. Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio played baseball for the soldiers and Irving Berlin’s stage show, "This is the Army" was filmed at the camp, using soldier as extras. Throughout the war years, nearly every major entertainer in the United States performed at Camp Cooke.

The Camp Cooke Clarion, the base newspaper, was printed every Friday by the Santa Maria Daily Times. The first edition was published on Friday, March 13, 1942 as part of a morale building program for the soldiers. Over time, the newspaper was called the Camp Cooke Clarion, the Clarion and the Cooke Clarion.

Some of the Cuties

Beginning with Velma Staples, one employee per week was chosen as the Camp Cooke Cutie. The young women, single or married, were picked from the female civilian personnel and highlighted in the Clarion each Friday.

Suggestions for the “Cuties” were made by camp denizens and given to the Public Relations department. A photographer from B & B Portrait Studio, the local camp studio, captured the image of each week’s winner.

B & B Portrait Studio

Camp Cooke Cuties worked in the Utilities Office, at the Provost Marshals Office, the Post Engineers Building, Ordnance Office, Reclamation Office, Signal Office, Quartermaster Office and most other departments at the camp. Most of the girls were young, in their teens or early twenties. They came from all over the country. Some, as we know, eventually made their way south to Los Angeles.

Sara Lee Testa

Sara Lee Testa was employed as a receptionist at the Post Exchange. She was born in South Carolina in 1921, but lived in Houston, Texas before working at Camp Cooke. Sara Lee had blue eyes, brown hair and was 5’ 2” tall. She was identified as possibly being seen at Mark Hansen’s Hollywood home on Carlos Avenue. Sara Lee died in 2006 at the age of 84.

Around the time Beth Short was employed at Camp Cooke, she lived in the surrounding communities of Lompoc, Casmalia and Santa Barbara. On September 6, 1943, the El Paseo nightclub in Santa Barbara sent its Grand International Revue to Camp Cooke to entertain the troops. A few weeks later, Elizabeth Short was arrested at the El Paseo and was sent home to Medford, Massachusetts, bringing to a close her time in the Central Coast and her brief career at Camp Cooke.

(Special thanks to Maj Mike McCloud, U.S. Air Force, ret.)

Remembering Beth Short

Clara Fisher

Medford High School classmate Clara Fisher recalled, "She was such a beautiful girl. I remember her very well because she was so popular and dressed exceptionally well."

Beth Short, the young woman from Medford, Massachusetts, died far from home and family. She was a mystery to the public, to the people who passed through her life and to her mother and sisters. From a variety of sources, a picture of her emerges.

Phoebe Short said her daughter was a "good girl." At the time of Beth's murder, Phoebe said, "She was working in Hollywood doing bit parts for the movies until two weeks ago." She didn't understand why newspapers painted such a negative portrait of her daughter.

Beth's sister, Virginia, who lived in Berkeley, California, hadn't heard from her in "at least two years" when she learned of her death.

Ginny said "She was always being told how pretty she was and I guess it went to her head."

Classmate Clara Fisher recalled, "She was such a beautiful girl. I remember her very well because she was so popular and dressed exceptionally well."

Red Manley described meeting her in San Diego, saying, "She was such a pretty girl I stopped and raked up a conversation with her."

An acquaintance from Long Beach, Robert Robertson, recalled, "She was a beautiful girl and well built and seemed like a nice girl,"

George Bacos said, "I didn’t want to kiss her because of all that ‘goop’ she used on her face. I’m used to nice, cultured girls.”

Roommate Linda Rohr said Beth wore too much makeup, "an inch thick."

Mary Unkefer of the Santa Barbara police department said Beth was, "very good looking with beautfiul dark hair and fair skin. She dressed nicely and was a long way from being a barfly." She also said, "She had the blackest hair I ever saw."

Inez Keeling, the manager of the Camp Cooke PX said, "I was won over at once by her innocence. She was one of the loveliest and most shy girls working for me."

Beth "had small, brown molelike freckles on her left arm and two faint small brown moles on her right cheek," according to a Santa Barbara police report.

Harold Costa rembered that Beth's friends, Margie and Lynn, said, "the kid was broke and hungry." They asked that she be invited along with them. Costa said Beth didn't join the others once because "her hair needed another henna rinse."

Twenty-three year old Freddie Woods of Chicago said, "Elizabeth Short was one of the prettiest girls I ever met, but she was terribly preoccupied with the details of the Degnan murder."

According to a Boston newspaper article, an air force lieutenant from Oklahoma wrote to her, saying, "You seem to be doing alright by yourself Beth, and I'm proud of you. Bet quite a few of your firm's clients envy your face and figure, and might even have mentioned the fact. Don't know what prompted this from me. except that I think you are a doll- beautiful, yet fragile."

The same newspaper printed an excerpt from another letter, this one from "an officer at a Texas airfield:"

"Hope you've had the best of luck with your photographer towards that new job you want. Don't forget that I want some of those glamour shots of you that you promised. It's hard to believe that a few days ago I was sitting in Earl Carroll's with you across the table. It's nice to remember moments like that, and I really have plenty of moments with you that won't be forgotten."

Another letter was mailed to her at the Hotel Vernon in Chicago and forwarded to her in Hollywood. It was mailed by another unidentified air force officer from Scott Field in Illinois. It read, in part,

"Honey, I'm terribly sorry about that wire you sent. Couldn't raise the money on such short notice. Glad you managed O.K. For goodness sake write me and give me your permanent address- if you have one. I love you much more than this abrupt note indicates."

Dorothy French remarked, “There was something so sorrowful about her -."

There was, "nothing malicious about her," Anne Toth said.

La Belle Dame sans Merci

Elizabeth Short was often described as attractive or beautiful by those who knew her. She was about 5' 5" tall and weighed about 115 pounds, the ideal woman in the eyes of Broadway entrepreneur and nightclub impresario, Earl Carroll, who thought the perfect woman should be 5' 5", 118 pounds. She had dyed, jet black hair and wore heavy makeup. She had pale blue eyes and she liked to wear a flower in her hair. She had a bad cough and decaying teeth. She bit her finger nails, wore "falsies" and had taps put on her shoes. She dressed with care and didn't like to share her clothing with the other girls.

She mislead people and was secretive about her life, but she was most often thought of as a nice girl. She was known around Hollywood as Beth or Betty, and those acquainted with her, for the most part, spoke well of her after her death.

Investigators were not so impressed. They disproved rumors that she was a prostitute, but agreed that she was a moocher and walked too close to the edge.

Mark Hansen said she, "appeared to be a very nice girl," and "she appeared to be a more domestic type girl." He also said, "Well I thought she was fair looking, average. If it wasn't for her teeth, she had bad teeth. Other than that she would have been beautiful."

Hansen said, "I didn't like the caliber of people she showed up with." But he also sympathized with her. "I felt sorry for her. She said there was bad company over there [the Chancellor] and she couldn't stand it."

Anne Toth said there was "nothing malicious about her." "She had a lot of high ideas, that Betty, believe me, with her Boston family and all that stuff-."

Anne said she was fastidious about herself. "She was the type that didn't want anybody to touch her clothes and she didn't want to touch theirs. She washed everything, she was a very meticulous person."

George Bacos said, "As a matter of fact, for my part I tried to avoid her as much as possible. I was new in radio and made contacts, and she dressed kinda cheaply, you know, too obvious and everything."

John Egger, the head usher at the CBS studios in Hollywood recalled, "-we always notice a girl like that, she was a striking girl, with that raven hair, blue sweater or pink sweater, she more or less became a legend and when we saw her with a man we paid more attention."

She had a quiet demeanor and good looks, but apparently she was not a happy young woman. Her mother recalled "moments of despondency." Those who knew her in Hollywood noticed she was often frightened. Mark Hansen and Ann Toth saw it, as did roommate Lynn Martin and the Frenches in San Diego.

Fickling-Short Correspondence

From Beth to Gordon (unmailed):

Darling: I do hope that you enjoyed a happy Christmas at home with your folks. I wish that I could have been at home during the holidays. My grandparents came to visit at my home from Portland, Maine. My aunts and uncles also were included so I guess mother had her hands full.

My sister and brother-in-law were as happy as two love birds. I'm so happy for them. What could be better? Mother mentioned that she wanted to come here some time in the spring. She intends buying a house near my sister in Berkeley. I know that she'll be happier here. She works so hard at home taking care of the furnace and keeping the house up, besides working herself. My younger sisters aren't much help because they are at the age where they like to run around. I used to keep them in line when I was home, but now poor mother has it all to do.

Mother has asked about you several times and I do wish you knew her. I'm sure that you would like her, for everyone does. She's so wonderful and very nice looking, too. Where do you expect to live permanently? Have you come to any conclusion as to where you'll work now, dear? That is the main worry now, isn't it? Frankly, darling, if everyone waited to have everything all smooth before they decided to marry, none of them would be together now.

It takes two to make a marriage successful, and it also takes time to have everything as you want it. Two people never do start out having everything all at once. My sister and her husband married during the war and it was all confusing then. Everything is very nice now and they are happy. I have no right to preach to you I know, Gordon darling, but you are missing so much of life. Don't you think so? I'm getting ready to leave now that the holidays are over. I'll need my fur coat in Chicago, I guess. It's going to be cold there. I know that you'll be happy some day soon darling, bye for now, love Beth.

Excerpts from Gordon to Beth:

I'm hoping you get the job you want, also the clothes and the apartment. After that, you should be able to relax, for a few days before something else happens.

___

Just tried to call you for the sixth time since 11 A.M. I hope that you enjoyed your breakfast date which you seemed to have kept despite the fact that you said you were not going to. If I am ever able to understand you, I'm going to consider myself quite accomplished. Will continue trying to call you and hope that you can say hello between dates.

___

Telegram to Beth, Park Row Hotel, Chicago, summer, 1946

Darling, love you more than ever. Have been away recently. My letters to Indianapolis returned. You're moving to fast. Letter follows. Don't move. Signed love Gordon.

___

Letter to Beth, Hawthorne Apts. September, 1946:

Loving you the way I do would make me do practically anything I guess. I learn so many new things about you every day, that it's a little confusing. You do things that irritate me and burn me up but no darling, I don't want to leave you, as you seem to believe.

___

From Beth, December 13, 1946 (unmailed):

Honey: Today has been quite busy for me. However, I always find time to let you know that my thoughts are of you. I have just made a chocolate cake and topped it off with white fudge frosting. I also added chopped nuts and cocoanut. Everyone approved because it is nearly gone now. I made hot coffee and it all tasted good. As I wrote, I am spending the holidays with my girl friend whom I worked with in Hollywood. Her mother has a home here in San Diego. She and I feel the same about Hollywood. I couldn't bear to be alone during the holidays, so she and I are spending it with her mother. We all get along fine and I am happy for now.

I want to go to Florida in the new year, and stay there. I've lost a great deal of work here, and when I was able to work, I had to pay a great deal for medicine and doctor bills. Rather discouraging, I should say!!! I honestly did believe that I would be well here in the West. Time has proved differently to me. My girl friend's mom works at the Navy hospital here. I found myself a very nice job there also. I've worked for the past few days and I'm crazy about it. I am a receptionist and stenographer combination. I work for a lieutenant commander and he is very nice to me. He has asked me to spend New Year's Eve with him.

All of the doctors on the staff at the hospital have made plans to get a party together at the country club here. I feel quite flattered because he asked me when we first met. He's certainly a nice boss. Everyone has been real nice to me.

I had hoped that we would be together by this time this year. It isn't possible, but I do hope that you find a nice young lady to kiss at midnight New Year's. It would have been wonderful if we belonged to each other now. Most sweethearts celebrate together on New Year's Eve. I so wish it could have been different for us.

My boss told me that he would find me a house through the Navy housing if I would stay here. I would never be happy in a house alone. I want the kind of happiness everyone else has. I'm working for now and I'll plan something else later. I am so unsettled and discouraged. Perhaps Matt was my man, that is why I've been so miserable. I'll never regret coming West to see you. You didn't take me in your arms and keep me there, however, it was nice as long as it lasted. You had a great deal on your mind and I was just an extra burden. I'll never be settled unless I find my own happiness, as everyone else does with the man they love.

Perhaps there is someone now, because I've never been able to call you "all mine." I've just about made my mind up to forget you and try and be happy some other way. I'm miserable because you are not around. Yet I knew you never will be. Why go on, for if I let myself, I am sure that I could find someone else and love them. I'm human, dear, so much so but you can't understand it. I want someone all for myself. Don't you? I'll close for now, and have a nice holiday and be happier than I am.

Always, Betty.

Letter sent to San Diego from Gordon, postmarked Charlotte, North Carolina, January 3, 1947:

Honey, I know that I can't make you happy if I haven't anything to offer you. Until that time you must make your own decisions. Anything that will make you happy is all right with me. I trust that you'll be very happy back in Chicago modeling, doing what you like best. Time and again I've suggested that you forget me, as I've believed it's the only thing for you to do, to be happy- find your happiness where you can, you're not finding it in me- I enjoy hearing about you in your letters, but if you'd rather stop them there's no hard feelings on my part. I'll understand and wish you all the happiness in the world.

Love, Gordon

___

[Special thanks to kawaglia from the BDiH forum for providing these letters]

Phoebe Short

In 1982, in Stockton, California, Phoebe Short and her oldest daughter, Virginia talked about Elizabeth.

Phoebe said, "She was a very affectionate, sweet girl and if she was out at night she always stopped in my bedroom to talk. And she would talk and talk and tell everything that she had done and everything."

Virginia said, "This case seems to be constantly coming up. It’s never been buried, it’s never been solved. But there always seems to be, you know, unfinished business with it. It’s a very mysterious kind of thing."

After 35 years, Phoebe said, "I expect it would be good to close the case, but like I say, I’m not a person that holds a grudge, but I, I would like to see the case closed."

In 1947, when Mrs. Short traveled to California, her mother, Ella Leighton, left her home in Portland, Maine to stay with Beth’s three sisters still living at home in Medford. Beth’s married sister, Mrs. Adrian West, living with her husband in Northern California, talked to reporters about Beth before the funeral: “She was always being told how pretty she was and I guess it went to her head. We just can’t understand the things they say about her in the papers. She was never like that. We just can’t believe it.”

Mrs. Short told reporters at the airport in Los Angeles that, “It was only 10 days ago when she wrote me from San Diego telling me she had a job in the naval hospital there. I never dreamed that she was having financial difficulties. Her letters were always so cheerful.”

Days after the murder, Phoebe reflected on her daughter's life, saying, "Betty was a sophomore when she left high school in Medford. She had asthma. Every winter she would go south, to Florida, as a waitress. Then she would come back home in summer. When she was away, she always wrote me once a week. The last I heard she was working in San Diego at a hospital."

She also said, "The only man that I know she loved was Maj. Matt Gordon Jr. She was engaged to Matt, but he was killed flying home."

At the inquest in Los Angeles, Mrs. Short was asked to tell about hearing of her daughter's death. "She was murdered!" she said, rising from her chair. Silence fell over the courtroom as Mrs. Short gained back her composure.

She also told of her daughter’s aspirations: “Elizabeth always wanted to be an actress. She was ambitious and beautiful and full of life, but she had her moments of despondency.”

“Betty always loved California so, so I think we’ll have the funeral in Berkeley. That is, as soon as the body is released.”

Cleo Short

Cleo Short, the father who deserted his family in 1930, left his wife Phoebe and his five young daughters to fend for themselves when he disappeared from their lives.

He was born on October 18, 1885 in Virginia. He married Phoebe Sawyer on April 11, 1918 in Portland, Maine.

Cleo Short said he sent his daughter 200 dollars in 1942 to travel west and stay with him in his home in Vallejo, California. She took him up on his offer, but their relationship was strained and he told her to leave his home in January of 1943.

Father and daughter went their separate ways, but they both ended up in Los Angeles, just a few miles from each other. Cleo told investigators that he never saw his daughter again after she left his home up north.

"I didn't want anything to do with her or any of the rest of the family then. I was through." At the time of the murder, Cleo Short was living at 1020 South Kingsley in Los Angeles, one mile from the Figueroa Hotel. He was working at a refrigeration repair business on Santa Monica Boulevard, just east of Fairfax Avenue in West Hollywood.

Investigators had to search for Cleo after his daughter's body was discovered and identified. He was eventually found in his apartment on Kingsley Drive and was described as intoxicated and uncooperative.

"We went up there and first time we ever saw him, we knocked and knocked and knocked on the door, and finally aroused him, and we found him to be in a drunken stupor. Found wine bottles all over the place, he was very uncooperative, especially in view of the fact that after all, his daughter had been murdered."

They went to see him the next day and he described his relationship with her, saying in part, "he kicked her out because she was so dirty, and she wouldn't keep the house clean, she wouldn't cook his meals," the investigators said.

He refused to identify his daughter's body and did not attend her funeral.

"I want nothing to do with this," he said.

A woman named Leona M. White contacted investigators, saying she had been a neighbor of Cleo's at the time of the murder. She wrote,

"I did not reside in the same apartment house as Mr. Short but directly across on different streets. His apartment was on the front of the 3rd floor and mine on the front on the 2nd floor.

"On the night the newspaper stated Miss Short was killed I was having a very severe attack of asthma and Mr. Short left my home about 11 p.m. & he called on the phone about 12 to see how I was. I asked him not to call me later as it wakened other tenants. I couldn't lie down and about 2 a.m. he rang my bell and when I answered he asked to come up and he said he had been in bed asleep & when he awoke and looked out the window and saw my light on he put his clothes over his pajamas & walked over. He had his bedroom slippers on and he stayed until about 4 a.m. Then about 8 a.m. he put the morning paper on my door. That next night he came by and we discussed the murder and read about it- and I know he had no idea who it was. After the paper stated the presence of a scar on the murdered girl's back- he said she must have had an operation similar to his daughter Betty- and he discussed that and I know he has grieved terribly altho[sic] I haven't seen him for over a year and I had never met any of his daughters or Mrs. Short."

Cleo Short died in Los Angeles on January 19, 1967, 20 years and four days after his daughter's murder.

Matt Gordon

Major Matt Gordon, Jr, a young Army Air Force pilot during the war, was the man Beth hoped to marry one day. Beth's mother, Phoebe Short, said that Matt was "the only man that I know she loved."

Matt was born on April 21, 1919 and grew up in Pueblo, Colorado. According to his cousin, Matt's oldest brother, Vincent, was also a pilot who served in WW II, Korea and Viet Nam.

According to newspaper articles, Matt's mother, Mrs. Matt Gordon, Sr, said her son told her the two met in Miami in 1944. Mrs. Gordon said that they met only once, but that they corresponded by mail. Beth wrote him:

"Darling,
I'm so proud that I'm afraid I'm going to cry. Forgive me please, I didn't plan to cry at all. I simply can't help myself, and when you come home I'm never going to let you go, Darling. I'm not trying to frighten you really. I just love you so, and it's real love because I haven't had you out of my thoughts since we met."

Matt wrote a letter from India to his mother dated May 5, 1945, asking if she thought Beth really loved him.

"It kind of looks like she does. In 11 days she wrote me 27 letters." Mrs. Gordon later said she did not give her son advice, that she trusted his judgment.

Beth never saw Matt again. He died after his plane crashed in India on August 10, 1945. He was killed while testing a repaired plane.

In 1940, Matt Gordon signed up with General Clair Chennault's newly commissioned Fourteenth Air Force.

In April, 1943, under the command of Major Robert Liles, Second Lieutenant Matt Gordon flew a P-40 Warhawk, a single engine, single seat fighter in China. He and his fellow flyers fought off a Japanese aerial attack, where Matt shot down an enemy plane with two-to-one odds against the American fighters.

In China, as a First lieutenant, Gordon was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his part in over 50 combat missions and for destroying two Japanese Zeros.

By September, 1943, Matt had been promoted to captain, and according to newspaper accounts, Liles, Matt and fellow flyer, Captain Roger Pryor all took part in another major air battle when Japanese planes attacked the Fourteenth Air Force headquarters in China.

"- Liles, Gordon and Pryor all became aces as the enemy suffered the heaviest loss to date—15 bombers and two Zeros definitely downed and three bombers and four Zeros damaged—in attacks on American airdromes in this theater."

According to reports, Gordon had five kills with the 75th FS 23rd FG in 1943. He was a fighter squadron commander with the Air Commandos in his second tour of duty in Burma.

Capt. Mathew Gordon

Ceretificate

Statement

Report of Interment

Inventory

Inventory

In March, 1945, Matt flew to the rescue of a downed American pilot in Central Burma, near the Japanese lines. Matt took off in a L-5 from his base and rescued the flyer. Hours later, Gordon received another radio message reporting another downed pilot. He took off in the same L-5, this time crashing into a tree top before he could locate the pilot.

Matt was given first aide and packed off to an American hospital with serious head wounds, where he remarked, "Naturally, I'd do it again, but the irony of the whole thing is that the second pilot was rescued by British troops as soon as he hit the ground."

In the summer of 1945, Matt's mother received the bad news and sent a telegram to Beth reading in part, "Matt killed in plane crash on way home from India. Our deepest sympathy is with you. Pray it isn't true."

The telegram was later found pasted in one of Beth's souvenir albums.

Matt was only 26 when he was killed.

Harry L. Hansen

Detective Harry Hansen worked the Black Dahlia case from Day One. He was on the scene at Norton Avenue on the morning of January 15, 1947 and remained on the case until he retired in 1968. He even received some 400 written "clues" from Dahlia obsessed people during retirement, according to a Los Angeles Times article.

The Times said Hansen was an entertainer before going into police work and continued "as a master of ceremonies for department function."

He started working for the LAPD in the late 1930's and worked his way up to Detective Sergeant and eventually taught homicide investigation to police offiers from all over California at UCLA.

Hansen retired to Palm Desert, California in 1968. In 1975, he served as technical advisor for the television movie, "Who Killed the Black Dahlia?". He was portrayed on screen by Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.

While retired, Hansen spoke of Carlos Avenue and Mark Hansen, saying he would, "-Give 'em a place to stay. 'course I don’t know what went on, but it’s not like Sunday school. That’s for sure."

After a long career as a homicide detective, Harry Hansen died at 80 years old on October 9, 1983 at the Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, California.

Mark, Anne & Beth

Mark Hansen

In 1949, district attorney investigators interviewed Mark Hansen and Anne Toth separately. Theater impresario Hansen was a suspect early in the 1947 LAPD investigation and remained so long after.

Anne found a place for Beth at the Chancellor Hotel in Hollywood, without telling Mark Hansen. When he drove her home the night before she left town, Anne said he was "amazed, he didn't know what had happened to her, where she had gone or what had happened." Anne asked Hansen to get the address in Berkeley for Beth's sister, since Anne would be nearby in Richmond at the same time.

When he returned from dropping her off at the Chancellor, Anne said he didn't get the address. The next day Anne called to speak with Beth, but she had disappeared and left some of her things, because she couldn't afford the rent. Witnesses said she was scared before she left.

On January 10, about 11:00 pm, Mark asked Anne to guess the whereabouts of Betty Short. Ann replied, "Is she in Berkeley?" Anne said Hansen told her no, she went to San Diego.

Anne said, "Well, that is like wrong way Corrigan, headed for Berkeley and went to San Diego." Then, she said Hansen told her, "he got a wire from her. Then he said he got a telephone call from her and he said that she wanted some money to come back to Los Angeles. So, he said he didn't send her - he wouldn't send her any, and that he said that if she did get up here that she could come to the house and stay for a few days and he said that she had intentions of bringing my coat back to me, and I imagine she mentioned it over the telephone and so forth, and I lent her some money, I imagine she mentioned that, and that was just about all there was to it."

Then, on January 12, Anne said Mark's telephone started ringing continuously in the evening. When he answered it, the other party was silent. After about half an hour of the telephone ringing constantly, Anne told Hansen to let her have the phone. She took it in her room and the same thing happened for another half an hour.

Eventually, Anne told the silent caller that she was going to report the incident to authorities. After that, the calls ceased. The calls were made in "the evening of the 12th, I would say, between twelve and one o'clock," Anne said.

Investigators asked Anne about the movements of Hansen on the night of January 14. She could not recall, except to say that he was usually home by 11:00 pm. "If he went to the fights or wrestling matches or say whatever it was, he usually got in around 11 o'clock, ten, eleven."

"But I couldn't tell you. I may have been out to four in the morning, I don't know."

Investigators went on to ask about his sexual conduct, to which Anne described him as "very crude. I wouldn't say rough or anything else, just crude."

They also asked about his background and the claims he made to Anne about his medical knowledge. She said, "He claimed to have known something about the medical profession." She also said, "He claims to know how to perform abortions or something, I don't know." Anne added, "Of course, I never believed him anyway.

Investigators also asked Anne about how Hansen felt towards Beth. They wanted to know, "- did she go for him or was it a means to an end?" Anne replied, "Yes, I think, more or less." "A means to having a place to live?" they asked. Anne said, "Well, I guess she compensated to a respect. After all, he asked her not to go with other fellows, so she did likewise to him.

"But there was a little lopsided romance going on there at the time?"

Anne replied, "Yes."

Marjorie Graham

Margie Graham played a central role in Beth Short's Hollywood life. The two young women knew each other from Cambridge, Massachusetts, Margie's home town. They met again in Los Angeles, where they were roommates in at least four different residences.

While no record of employment could be found for Beth Short in Los Angeles, Margie Graham worked as a stenographer for an insurance company and also as a waitress in several restaurants, including the Pig Stand on Vermont Avenue in Hollywood.

Bob Granas introduced Lynn Martin and Margie to George Bacos. George said that Margie, "seemed like a nice gal. She was quiet too; didn't dress as smartly as Lynn; anything like that."

He said, "I wouldn't say she was fast." "She's built big; not fat, but big."
George also recalled that "I think she said she was married."

Finis Brown described her as a "heavy set girl with "light brown hair."

The D.A. investigation suggested that "she is of a nice family," but the "LAPD indicates otherwise while in Los Angeles vicinity."

Anne Toth said that Bill Robinson was Margie's boy friend. Ann also said, "This Robinson tried to take advantage of her [Beth] once and he slapped her in the face and threw her out of the car. She came home crying about that."

When Beth arrived in Los Angeles in 1946, she lived at the Sunset Motel and later at the Brevoort Hotel with Gordon Fickling. Margie said that she ran into Beth in Hollywood in the summer of 1946.

"I went to the West Coast last summer and was in a 5 and 10 cent store in Hollywood one afternoon when I bumped into Betty. She had just arrived in town that day and didn't have a place to live, so I asked her to come and room with me for a while."

When Beth moved from the Brevoort on August 28, she moved in with Margie and Lynn Martin at the Hawthorne Hotel, several blocks west and kitty-corner from Hollywood High School.

Two neighbors, Don Leyes and Harold Costa took the girls out occasionally. They would take Beth too, after the girls told them she was hungry and broke.

Margie said, "She wasn't working then and was having a little trouble getting her trunk from her home. I let her take money for meals and other things.

"After staying with me for a month she went to live with a private family and when I left Hollywood in October, she said she was going down to San Diego because the weather in Los Angeles was getting too cold.

"Betty always had trouble with her health, especially her lungs, and I think that is why she went to Florida and California in the first place."

Margie and Beth moved out of the Hawthorne on September 20 and moved to the Figueroa Hotel in downtown Los Angeles with a friend, Sid Zaid. They stayed there until October 1.

Sid then took the two girls to Mark Hansen's house on Carlos Avenue in Hollywood on October 1, where they stayed until October 12.

Anne said that "Marjorie drank up all of Mark's liquor, so he kicked her out, so out Betty went too. I don't blame him."

Margie and Beth moved into the Guardian Arms apartments. Ann said the two girls went to "Bill Robinson's place, hotel apartments or something, on Hollywood Boulevard. I think they were gone about two or three weeks."

Bill Robinson and Marvin Margolis and the two girls all lived together until October 22, after which Margie returned to Cambridge.

Anne saw Beth and Margie once while they were living at the Guardian. Anne said they were sitting on the porch at Mark's house, possibly waiting for their mail to be delivered.

Beth moved back to Mark's later in October and stayed until November 13, when Beth got in a heated argument with another girl staying at the house. Mark told her find another place to stay.

After Margie returned to Cambridge, she was contacted by authorities. She told them that she had last seen Beth in October, and that it was her understanding that Beth was planning to marry a lieutenant on November 1, after his release from a hospital.

Margie said, "I worked nights out there, and she was always going out as I was getting up for breakfast."

"Betty had an inferiority complex and wanted to become a movie star to prove to her family that she could make good." She also said she was "very flighty and fickle."

"Betty went out with a different man nearly every night. She wore very startling clothes. On practically every date she had, she acted like a 16-year old on her first date. And she could never make up her mind who she was in love with. Practically every man she went out with was for the moment 'the man.'"

Margie also described Beth as "Good hearted" and "making friends easily."

Glynn Wolfe

Glynn Wolfe, the owner and operator of the Hotel Chancellor on Cherokee Avenue in Hollywood, was Elizabeth Short’s landlord when she lived in Apartment 501 in 1946.

Wolfe, nicknamed "Scotty," was born in Indiana on July 25, 1908. He was first married in 1932 when he still lived in Indiana. He was married and divorced four times by 1936. A judge asked him not to make his home town into a Hollywood, so “I went to Hollywood,” Wolfe said.

In 1948, Wolfe married Peggy Lou, but divorced her in Mexico in 1952. In 1954, he said, “I’ve had a bad experience since she left. I’ll give her half of the Chancellor Hotel if she comes back.”

Beth’s friend, Anne Toth, called Wolfe “one of the worst type.” She described him as a sexual pervert, maniac, everything. I hate him,” she said, “He even threatened to kill me once.” Anne said Wolfe “was putting four girls into a room, where there should have been two, for $5.00.”

In 1960, he had four ex-wives living at the Chancellor. The same year he was jailed after one of twelve of his ex-wives accused him of beating her.

Wolfe, who preferred young women, once said that “You have to spank them once in a while, but after they’re tamed they make wonderful wives. He said his twelve wives were all teenagers “because they’re happy that they don’t have to work, and they don’t make demands.
He said they eventually left him when they get “fidgety and want to run loose. And you can’t hold anybody if they don’t want to stay.”

Bonnie Lee Bakley, married nine times before marrying actor Robert Blake, claimed to have been Wolfe’s 26th wife.

According to the Guinness World Records, Glynn Wolfe was “world’s most married man.” His last wife, Linda, holds the “record for being the most married woman in the world,” with 23 marriages. By the time of his death in 1997, Wolfe had been married 29 times.

Betty Bersinger

Betty Bersinger was the first person to discover the body of Elizabeth Short on Norton Avenue on January 15, 1947.

She told police her story eight days later after she made herself available for questioning at the University Police Station.

According to the Los Angeles Examiner, she recounted the morning to investigators:

"I was walking with my little 3 year old daughter, Anne, at about 10:45 a.m. the morning of January 15.

"We were going south on Norton avenue to the Leimert Park section, where I was going to have Anne's shoes repaired.

"As we passed that vacant lot between 39th street and Coliseum avenue, I saw the body about a foot or two from the sidewalk. It was lying face up- and I could see it was cut in two.

"I was so shocked and scared and so worried my little girl would see it, that I gathered her up in my arms and ran to the nearest house- it was a doctor's I think.

"After asking to use the phone, I telephoned the police. I don't recall whether I told the policeman with whom I talked that the body was cut in two. And I'm sure I didn't say whether it was a man or woman.

"But I told him exactly where it was and said there was a body there. I didn't say anything about thinking it was a man or that it was a drunk.

"My little girl didn't see the body. I made sure she wouldn't. I'm glad she didn't. We don't talk about the case in front of her."

Elvera French

Dorothy French, a cashier at a San Diego movie theater, invited the homeless girl to stay with her mother, younger brother and herself until she got on her feet. The visit lasted a month, and mother and daughter were anxious for her departure.

Elvera described Beth as "depressed and moody." She told detectives Gerald Walk and Ed Stotler, "I had a premonition Miss Short was in trouble. She was so silent and sullen over her inability to find employment. Too, she was unwilling to discuss her past other than to say she came from Hollywood."

"When I read newspaper account of the slaying , I was confident Miss Short was the victim.

Before Beth left San Diego, she borrowed a dollar from the Frenches and gave a hat and veil to Elvera as a gift.

Jack Egger

According to Jack Egger, head usher at C.B.S studios in Hollywood, he saw Elizabeth Short alive in Hollywood in early January, 1947.

John F. Egger was born on July 27, 1927 and began work at the Columbia Broadcasting System in Hollywood in March, 1941. He went into the armed services in June, 1945 and returned to C.B.S. in October, 1946. He stayed until June, 1948.

Newspaperman and television producer Pete Noyes said, "before he became a cop," Egger "worked security at the Florentine Gardens." In January, 1947, Jack Egger lived under the roof of his father, Frank Egger, at 1768 North Las Palmas, two blocks from the Chancellor Apartments.

By February, 1950, during the district attorney investigation of the Black Dahlia murder, he was working at the Hall of Justice in Los Angeles and was involved in the investigation. He told Lt. Frank Jemison that he saw Elizabeth Short "at least twenty times" while he worked at C.B.S.

Investigators asked him about the day that Elizabeth Short and a man he identified as a Chicago policeman visited C.B.S. to see the Jack Carson radio program. Egger said he remembered viewing the badge, saying it was definitely a Chicago badge, but he couldn't remember if it was a shield or a star badge.

Egger said Beth and the man were waiting in the patio area, not in line. James Neemo, an usher who worked under Jack Egger, brought the two to him. He admitted both into the studio without tickets as a courtesy.

Lt. Jemison asked Egger if he could recall the exact date he saw the two. Egger said he was sure it was in January, because he was home sick in bed on New Years Eve and he admitted them days later. After checking the dates of the Jack Carson program, he stated the show was broadcast on Wednesdays. At first, he believed it to be January 8, but after questioning he said it could have been on January 2.

Egger was shown photographs to see if he could identify the man with the badge. He initially identified Dr. Patrick S. O'Reilly, but after he saw O'Reilly in person, he changed his mind.

Jack Egger described the Chicago policeman as 5'10", 180 pounds, in his early forties, with receding hair, "between dark and gray."

"Captain Jack" Egger continued a career in law enforcement, eventually becoming Captain of Police in the Beverly Hills Police Department and later Director of Studio Protection for Warner Brothers.

Jack Egger died on March 3, 2010. He was living in Studio City at the time.

Lola Titus

On July 15, 1949, two and a half years after the murder of Elizabeth Short, Mark Hansen was back in the news. Strip tease artist and taxi dancer, Lola Titus knocked on Hansen's front door in Hollywood.

At some point, after he let her in, she took out a hand gun and shot Hansen in the back while he was shaving in his bathroom.

Hansen survived, but while being taken to the hospital, he called out for "Brown" to be called.

Several months later, a memorandum was issued by investigators, in an effort to explain "Brown's" identify:

"Relative to Lola Titus, Mark Hansen was a victim of an ADW attach by a shooting which is of public knowledge. Mark Hansen had knowledge that Sgt. Brown, Homicide Division, had information relative to the record of Lola Titus and other information regarding her. While en route to the hospital in an ambulance he requested the ambulance attendants that "Brown" be called. He did not designate at the time by first name which Brown he wanted.

It has been ascertained that Hansen's motive in calling for "Brown" was that he was the officer in the police department most qualified in relation to Lola Titus to conduct an investigation into the circumstances. It was pure conjecture in filling in the details by persons unaware of the facts that caused the false rumor to circulate that Hansen had called for Thad Brown.

It has further been ascertained that Hansen was calling for Sgt. F. A. Brown and his motives in so doing were the same as any reasonalbe man would have displayed under like circumstances. Homicide Division was contacted by the persons of whom Hansen had made the request to see "Brown." Since at that time much work had been done in connection with Hansen as a possible suspect in the Short case or as having more information than he revealed, it was felt that Sgt. Brown would be the officer to whom Hansen would most likely make any statement.

Sgt. Brown was off duty on the day in question and attemptes [sic] were made by Homicide Division whether Sgt. Brown's neighbors could contact him. Contact could not be obtained and Chief Brown felt that since he was the brother of Sgt. Brown he would be the next best substitute for Hansen to relate any information he might desire to give in connection with the Short case. Chief Brown, therefore, went to the bedside of Mark Hansen under the impression that Hansen was seriously injured and had some statement to make. Chief Brown found that Hansen's motive in calling was as heretofore stated, that is that Sgt. Brown knew Lola Titus' background, etc.

Previous to this shooting incident Chief Brown had been furnished information by Sgt. Brown regarding Lola Titus and had seen a picture of her. Shortly after leaving the hospital chief Brown placed Lola Titus under arrest on a charge of assault with intent to commit murder.

At the time of this occurrence Thad Brown was Commander of the Patrol Bureau which handles all divisional vice activities of the police department. Since the information regarding Lola Titus previous to the assault on Mark Hansen had been in connection with vice activities in the Hollywood Division this information had been transmitted to the commander in charge of these operation."

Candle Wax & Take Out

Four days after Elizabeth Short's body was found on Norton Avenue, investigators discovered two partially burned candles among her belongings retrieved from a locker at the Greyhound bus station in downtown Los Angeles. According to newspaper accounts, shortly after the murder, detectives "learned that she always carried a candle in her purse and was in the habit of melting the wax when she retired to the powder room in night clubs."

Beth's girl friends were interviewed and asked about the candles. Former Hotel Chancellor roommate Sheryl Hoagland said, "Beth would take a candle and melt it. Then she’d drop the hot wax into the cavities of her teeth. This would remove all the dark tops of the teeth.”

Captain Jack Donahoe, learning of the habit, directed an investigation of all clubs in Hollywood where Beth was known to have been. Attendants were questioned regarding a patron melting wax in the ladies' room. The Biltmore Hotel was the first site that was checked.

At roughly the same time, a "flying squad of plainclothesmen" was ordered to canvass the harbor area in search of a "polite young man" who tried to rent a room with a private bath at three different establishments. Donahoe also sent police to the San Pedro-Lomita area in search of the man.

Captain Donahoe surmised that the killer may have held his victim in a shack on the edge of the city. He said, "If the girl was held prisoner during the few days before her death, and we have reason to believe she was, it was probably in an outlying shack where the killer would be unable to do any cooking. We are checking all eating places outside the city in an effort to get a line on any suspicious persons who took out meals from Jan. 9 to 14."

Besides checking motels on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the idea that a trailer was used to hold Beth during the missing days was also considered. A newspaper article reported a theory developed by the police that, "Although they believe that the slaying and mutilation took place in an isolated dwelling, they have not ruled out the possibility that the murder scene was a trailer parked in some outlying spot.

"It was pointed out that the mobility of the trailer would provide the brutal slayer with an unsuspected means of flight from the city."

N. T. G.

While many Black Dahlia researchers think of Mark Hansen when they hear of the Florentine Gardens, it was show promoter and producer, Nils T. Granlund that audiences associated with the club. Granlund, better known to Broadway and Hollywood audiences as "N.T.G.", and to friends as "Granny," operated the floor shows at the Florentine Gardens during the 1940's.

He was born in Sweden in 1890 and is credited with being the inventor of the modern cabaret or nightclub. His career in show business began in 1912 when Marcus Loew personally hired him to promote his stage show "Hanky Panky." Granlund had a 45 year career in show business. He referred to himself "as press agent, radio broadcaster, vaudeville impresario, and producer of night-club shows from Texas Guinan's blistering bistro to the Flamingo in Las Vegas." He either discovered or was instrumental in making famous such legends as Ruby Keeler, Ruby Stevens (Barbara Stanwyck), Clara Bow and Lucille LaSuer (Joan Crawford).

Granlund was a sailor and newspaper reporter in New England in his youth. As a reporter, he and Damon Runyon, Walter Winchell and Mark Hellinger were fast friends. Granlund once wrote of his nightclub days in New York: "Before this new industry was two years old I had produced a dozen or more shows in competing cabarets. At one time I operated in six different clubs simultaneously and all of these places were owned by gangsters." In the 1920's, when flashy nightclubs were the biggest entertainment in New York, Granny provided the girls for Ziegfeld's Follies, Earl Carroll's Vanities and George White's Scandal.

After providing the talent for so many others, Granny finally opened his own nightclub in New York on Broadway at 48th Street. It has been credited as being the first modern nightclub and was the model for all that followed. He opened the Hollywood Restaurant shortly after the repeal of the 18th Amendment and introduced a new era in supper clubs. One of his early discoveries was Harriet Hilliard, who later married Ozzie Nelson. The New York Daily Mirror wrote, "N.T.G. is the conceiver, inventor, and creator of modern night life. The Hollywood was the daddy of practically every cabaret in the business today."

In 1940, when Granlund began his association with the Florentine, Earl Carroll's nightclub and restaurant on Sunset Boulevard was the classy address. Granny once said, "the owner of the Florentine at this time was Frank Bruni, and the joint was flooded with red ink. He propositioned me to bring a show into the place and try to put it on its feet. It was a challenge, and the kind I have never been able to resist."

"The Florentine had never enjoyed a very high reputation. One reason, which seemed obvious to me, was the fact that the management would never pay salaries that would attract high-class entertainment."

"I agreed to go into the Florentine Gardens for six weeks, just to see what could be done. The six weeks stretched to six months to five years before I finally left. And in that time it made a $1,000,000 net profit."

In 1944, the nightclub was charged with hiring two 15 year old girls, the Stull sisters, Jean and Dean. Sugar Geise, wife of Walter Morgan, of the D.A.'s office and vice squad, was the lead girl in the Florentine Gardens when N.T.G. ran the shows. She said, "Nils only hired pretty girls. If you were beautiful and could move, that's all you needed." Sugar once said, "Listen, if I wrote a book I'd have to leave town."

The names of Anne Toth and Elizabeth Short are never mentioned among the showgirls at the Florentine. Anne, who was acting and modeling at the time, had a connection through Mark Hansen. Elizabeth Short also had the connection, but seemed to lack ambition or interest.

He put the Mills Brothers in the cabaret lounge off the dining room and soon moved them to the main stage when their popularity rose. He soon hired bandleaders Ozzie Nelson and Paul Whitman and entertainers Sophie Tucker and Harry Richman.

Granlund and Milton Berle did a comedy routine together in New York in the 1920's. In the 1940's, when both were living in California, Berle called up Granny and said he wanted to hold his wedding reception at the Florentine Gardens. By this time, both were established performers, but they ran through some of their old material at the reception.

Showgirls were his specialty and in the 1940's he had a chorus line that included future stars, Yvonne De Carlo, Marie McDonald, Gwen Verdon, Lili St. Cyr and Jean Wallace. The main dining room seated 600 customers, and with Granlund's expertise, the club was filling up most nights.

In 1946, the year Beth Short came to Hollywood, Granlund was the announcer for "You're in the Act," a CBS radio program that broadcast five days a week from the Florentine Gardens. He made three movies during the 1940's, including "Rhythm Parade, filmed largely at the Florentine. He also played himself in "Goin' to Town" and "Take it Big."

Granny's wife, Rose Wenzel, was an early Skouras brothers star in their St. Louis theater. The brothers went on to become the owners of more theaters than any other outfit in the world. They kept up with N.T.G. and Rose through the years.

After his engagement at the Florentine, N.T.G. continued his career in Las Vegas. In 1949, Moe Sedway hired him to set up shows at the Flamingo. In 1950, Granlund made his television debut in "Backstage with N.T.G."

Seven years later, in 1957, he died in Las Vegas after his taxi was hit by another car on the Strip near the Riviera Hotel. His body was claimed by former Florentine showgirl and friend, Yvonne De Carlo.

Skouras & van der Steen

When Frank Jemison interviewed Bernardus van der Steen, his wife and others, in connection with the opening of the Crest Theatre in Long Beach, the topic was murder and the suspect was Mark Hansen.

Charlie Skouras, one of the Skouras brothers who had a chain of theaters dating back to the early days of film, went on to become head of Fox Coast West in 1950. The night of the opening, he threw a party at the Hilton Hotel in Long Beach, where Mark Hansen sat with the van der Steens and others.

For a time, it was believed that the party was held within a day or two of the murder, but the facts disclosed another date, January 24, 1947. Hansen came with a male guest, who van der Steen described as an associate of Hansen's in the theater business.

The party was officially over at 2 am, but guests stayed another hour or so. Ernest Glaser, Catering Manager of the Hilton Hotel, said there were about 200 guests in all. He supplied the investigators with the name of the photographer assigned to the opening so they could review pictures of attendees.

Hansen spent the night at the van der Steens in Redondo Beach. It took them about an hour or more to drive from Long Beach to Redondo Beach, due to a heavy fog that rolled in about 10 pm on the night of the 24th.

When records showed that the party was held later than originally thought, investigators reached another dead end. However, Mr. van der Steen said that Hansen had been a dinner guest at his home three or four times. The other dates were not established, but Hansen did bring one or more guest with him in the past.

Anne Toth's boyfriend, Leo Hymes, said he had been puzzled about Hansen going to van der Steen's around the time of the murder. He did not mention the party or the theater opening, but, he did say Hansen called that night and said he was not returning home. Hymes said it was days just before or just after the murder.

On February 11, 1947, van der Steen made his last investment in the Florentine Gardens. He said that, "everyone as a rule came to see me; they wanted me to buy into - and wanted me to operate the Florentine Gardens. I bought an interest in the Florentine Gardens." At the time, van der Steen was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pig 'n Whistle.

~ Courtesy alteredplans

Magic is the Moonlight

When Beth Short arrived in Los Angeles in 1946, Hollywood was not only the movie and radio capital of the world, but it also captivated audiences with live entertainment.

Earl Carroll's and the Florentine Gardens staged floor shows with name entertainers and chorus girls. The Hollywood Palladium featured big bands and a huge dance floor. The Hollywood Canteen was built exclusively for the entertainment of servicemen.

In the same neighborhood, on Vine Street, between Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard, Tom Breneman's Breakfast in Hollywood broadcast radio programs before live restaurant audiences.

Beth Short, according to a soldier she met in Los Angeles in September, 1946, accompanied him to Tom Breneman's, where she was apparently well known. The soldier remarked that there was a line outside, but when they opened the door, the head waiter greeted her and escorted them to a table. The soldier also said that all the waiters seemed to know her.

Breneman's program was such a success that a movie was made called "Breakfast in Hollywood." Actress Bonita Granville, famous for her role as Nancy Drew in films, was the star, along with Breneman. Other featured players included, Beulah Bondi, Zasu Pitts, Spike Jones and Nat "King" Cole.

Andy Russell, a handsome young singer from Boyle Heights in East Los Angeles, and a popular recording artist, was featured in the movie, singing his hit, "Magic is the Moonlight."

Greyhound Terminal

Greyhound Terminal

S.W. L.A. Housing Tract

Crenshaw Manor

Norton Avenue

Newspaper Boy

Quotations

"Your devotion is my most precious possession. Darling, how many lips have joined with yours since ours last met? Sometimes I go crazy when I think of such things."
- Gordon Fickling

"No, in fact,. she talked very little on the way in to Los Angeles and I wasn’t in a very talkative mood. I don’t know what was the matter with her. It didn’t make any difference to me. I was just glad to get rid of her.”
- Red Manley, Chapter 12

"Didn't Beth Short at one time or another indicate to you at least she wasn't fond of queer women, did she indicate that to you?"
- Lt. Jemison

"No, she always made the statement, very queer people in this town, queer people, referring to both men and women I guess. That is the only thing referring to queers that she ever mentioned, but I doubt it very much. Why did she go through the trouble of wearing falsies and all that, to attract a queer lesbian, because either they go for you or don't go for you, they don't care if you haven't any shape. As far as that goes, in my estimation, I think she was definitely out to attract men. I can't see anyway of her wanting to atract a woman, because I would definitely notice it. I have been around enough to notice it in this town -- I would notice it."
- Anne Toth

"I have no right to preach to you, Gordon darling, but you are missing so much of life. I know, though that you'll be happy some day soon, darling."
- Beth to Gordon Fickling

Anne Toth Interview

In the first place, she didn't drink, she didn't smoke, because after all, living with her. I knew. and she always came in at a decent hour, 11 o'clock, or around there. She never came in later than that, and naturally if she was supposed to be sexy and do other stuff, there is a lot more that goes to it, rather than if a decent girl~ there is drinking, smoking, wining and dining, and a few other things that go with it. I don't think she was trying to be sexy ~ in a very innocent way (trying to put on glamour). In a plain way. Nothing malicious about her.

Muriel Short Interview

Beth's sister, Muriel said, "Mama had a premonition. Mama came home from work very tired and went to bed right after supper, but around midnight she woke with a cold chill. Mama told me she felt as if the blanket had been yanked off the bed. She went over to the window thinking maybe the wind had blown it off, but the windows were closed. Mama said she got a strange feeling. She knew something was wrong, that something had happened to Bette."

Lynn Martin Interview

There are a lot of girls in Hollywood who could end up like Beth Short...Hollywood draws them from all over the country.

Hollywood is a lonely place when you come into it without home ties or friends and very little money. There are few places for a lonely girl to go except into a bar.

Girls pick each other up in a store or a bar and start rooming together like old friends. It doesn't matter if they don't know anything about each other. It's somebody to talk to and share the rent with- like Beth and Marjorie and I. Sharing rent means more money for something to eat or a new pair of shoes.

Even more important than food sometimes is having makeup and being able to keep your hair looking good, because if you look good, you can always get a man to buy you a thick steak, some French-fried potatoes and a cup of coffee. Nothing ever tastes so good- at first. But the guys you pick up all insist you order steak or chops, and you get so sick of meat- meat all the time, and after awhile you can hardly get it down.

You don't drink at first, because you don't like liquor. You don't like the taste. But you drink because when you're on a date in a bar you have to order something, and when you're out on a date the first thing is always a couple of drinks- and then a couple of drinks.

You're always lonely in Hollywood, even when you're out with people. They don't belong to you- those people. None of them really care what happens to you. Lots of times you can hardly stand the man you're with, but you can forget about that after a few drinks.

Lots of times the girls talk to each other about getting out of Hollywood and starting all over again. They're going back home, or they're going to get married to someone. Down in the heart of all of them is sort of a hazy dream about a husband and a house and a baby.

They talk about it, and they dream about it, but somehow they almost never do it. This life is like a drug. You can't give it up. It's not like having a nine to fiver. They can sleep late if they want- they're on their own time. And if they have family back home, they never want their families to know what kind of life they're leading- so if they write home, they make up stuff.

Most of the girls are pretty innocent and well meaning at first. The road downhill is gradual. They know their life isn't right, but after a while you take the easiest way.

Sooner or later they become pregnant, and many of them resort to an illegal operation- and sometimes some of them end like Beth Short.

The Jewel Room

Elizabeth Short was said to have left the Biltmore Hotel on Olive Street between 9:45 pm and 10:00 pm on January 9, 1947. Reports indicated she may have been seen down the street at the Crown Grill at Olive and 8th later that evening.

The bartender on duty that night was Sam Slott. He and the other bartenders, Paul Sales and "Mack" Mahaley, were scheduled to be interviewed as part of the 1949 grand jury investigation. It was reported that Elizabeth Short had a drink at the Crown Grill, or Jewel Room, as it was also called, that night.

Chris Anaya, a waitress that started working at the Crown Grill after the death of Elizabeth Short, told investigator James F. McGrath that she heard from fellow employees that Beth was a customer. She was seen in the company of a "beautiful redhead," a waitress named Kay Graham, and a blonde girl called June Pina, McGrath said.

According to McGrath, Anaya also said she heard that the three of them "spent several nights at a hotel situated just above this cocktail bar known as the Olive Hotel."

At the time of the grand jury investigation, the hotel records did not indicate a room had been occupied by any of the three women; however, McGrath stated the records were in poor condition and further checking was scheduled.

McGrath also said in his report that, "Miss Anaya stated that she had also heard that the victim hung around a bar in Hollywood, located near the Paramount Theater."

Rejection

"When you mentioned marriage in your letter, Beth, I got to wondering about that myself.

"Seems like you have to be in love with a person before it's a safe bet. Infatuation is sometimes mistakenly accepted for true love which can never be.

"Love lingers on if properly nurtured, while infatuation is soon dispelled through adverse circumstances.

"I know whereof I speak, because my ardent love soon cooled off and left me wondering how I could have felt that way at all.

~ Stephen Wolak

"Darling your request impossible at this time, other obligations have me against a wall. Try to make other arrangements. I'm concerned and sorry, believe me.

"Honey, I'm terribly sorry about that wire you sent. Couldn't raise the money on that short notice. Glad you managed O.K. I want that picture of you very much."

~ Gordon Fickling

"Your letter took me completely by surprise. Yes, I've always had the feeling that we had a lot in common and that we could have meant a lot to each other had we only been together~"

~ Paul Rosie

"I'll never regret coming west to see you. You didn't take me in your arms and keep me there. You had a great deal on your mind and I was just an extra burden."

~ Beth to Gordon Fickling

"You say in your letter you want us to be friends, but from your wire you seem to want more than that.
Are you really sure just what you want? Why not pause and consider just what you're coming out here to me would amount to?
"In your letter you mentioned a ring from Matt. You gave no further explanation. I really don't understand. I wouldn't want to interfere."

~ Gordon Fickling

She spent all of her time "running around when she was supposed to be keeping house for me. I made her leave."

~ Cleo Short

"I didn't want anything to do with her or any of the rest of the family then. I was through."

~ Cleo Short

L.A. City Officials

Mayor: Fletcher Bowron
1938-1953

District Attorney: William E. Simpson
1946-1951

District Attorney Chief Investigator: H. Leo Stanley

District Attorney Investigator: Frank B. Jemison

District Attorney Investigator: Walter Morgan

LAPD Chief of Police: Clemence B. Horrall1941-1949

LAPD Interim Chief of Police: William Worton1949-1950

LAPD Chief of Police: William H. Parker1950-1966

Chief of Detectives: Thaddeus Brown

Chief of Homicide, Central Division: Jack Donahoe

Detective Sgt., Central Division: Harry Hansen

Detective, Central Division: Finis Brown

D. A. Suspects

The district attorney's office identified 22 suspects in the murder of Elizabeth Short. The list included half a dozen doctors, medical students, a "queer woman surgeon," soldiers, working men and con men, and a night club impresario. The field was wide open.

(1) Carl Balsiger:

In late 1946, Carl Balsiger's residence was listed as 7424 W. Sunset Boulevard, near Gardner Street in West Hollywood.

He said he met Beth Short on December 6 at a real estate office on Sunset Boulevard and drove her to Camarillo, about 40 miles northwest, where he had business. He claimed that he brought her back to Hollywood the same day and that he checked her into a hotel on Yucca Street. Balsiger said he drove her to the bus station in Hollywood, where she was to catch a bus to the bay area on December 7.

Balsiger was from a "nice" family in Kansas City, according to the district attorney records, and worked as a salesman for Marwyn Dairy at the time of the murder. He also sold flour and syrup.

(2) Claude Welsh:

It is unknown if this suspect knew Elizabeth Short.

(3) Sergeant "Chuck":

The last name of this suspect is unknown;There is a Camp Cooke connection with Elizabeth Short.

(4) John D. Wade:

Wade had a Crown Grill connection with Elizabeth Short.

(5) Joe Scalise:

Joe Scalise worked at the Crown Grill across the street from the Biltmore on January 9, 1947. Two other employees said they saw Elizabeth Short there that night.

(6)James Neemo:

James Neemo was an usher that worked at the CBS studios in Columbia Square on Sunset Boulevard near Vine Street. He worked directly under head usher John Egger. Egger said he saw Beth "at least twenty times" at the radio studio. She always came alone, except once when she was with a man who identified himself with his badge as a Chicago police officer. Beth usually waited in line to see a broadcast, but this time she was allowed in with the man through a side door as a courtesy to the officer. He said she came to see the Jack Carson show on either January 2 or January 8.

(7) Maurice Clement:

Clement worked at Columbia Studios at the time of the murder. He lived in Hollywood at 1616 N. Normandie, apartment 107. His name was found in Elizabeth Short's address book.

(8) Unknown Chicago Police Officer:

A man accompanying Elizabeth Short to a radio program at CBS studios in January, 1947, showed a Chicago police badge to CBS employees. His identity was never established.

(9) Salvador Torres Vera:

Vera frequented Brittingham's restaurant in Columbia Square, but it has never been confirmed that he knew Elizabeth Short.

(10) Dr. George Hodel:

Hodel lived at the Sowden House in Hollywood and had offices in downtown Los Angeles. His home was secretly wired for eavesdropping some time after the murder. It was never proved that he knew Elizabeth Short.

(11) Marvin Margolis:

Marvin Margolis and Bill Robinson visited Mark Hansen's home "quite often," according to Anne Toth. She said that Bill was Marjorie's boyfriend, but on one occasion he attacked Beth. "This Bill Robinson tried to take advantage of her once and he slapped her in the face and threw her out of the car. She came home crying about that. I don't think anyone else tried anything."

Mark Hansen described Bill Robinson and Marvin Margolis, saying, "They had a lot of nerve, those two guys. Always had to chase them out." Concerning Margolis, Hansen said, "Well, I didn't pay much attention to his conversation. He was a windy blower. I had to ask him to leave there. I didn't want him around."

John Egger, who was 20 years old in January, 1947, described Beth to authorities, saying, "The thing sir, we always notice a girl like that, she was a striking girl, with that raven hair, blue sweater or pink sweater, she more or less became a legend and when we saw her with a man we paid more attention-."

(12) Glynn Wolfe:

Anne Toth did not care for Glynn Wolfe. She described him as a "Lousy character. I would say. One of the worst type." She said he was a "-sexual pervert, maniac, everything. I hate him. He even threatened to kill me once," "because I was going to turn him over to the O.P.A. He was putting four girls into a room, where there should have been two, for $5.00."

Wolfe, according to district attorney notes, lived at 1617 N. McCadden Place in Hollywood, sleeping "in the N.W. corner room." Wolfe lived two blocks west and one block south of Hollywood Boulevard.

(13) Michael Anthony Otero:

Otero was identified as being in the company of Elizabeth Short on December 6. 1946, prior to her departure for San Diego. He was the only known person to have been with Elizabeth Short at the Biltmore Hotel, before her return to Los Angeles on January 9, 1947. He was known as "the teacher" by Anne Toth, and his Spanish book was found among Beth's belongings after her murder.

(14) George Bacos:

George Bacos was the head usher at the NBC studios, according to John Egger, the head usher at the CBS studios down the block. Egger said, "I don't like him very well. He is very conceited; I just don't care for him myself. Never very close to him, just speaking acquaintance."

Bacos lived at 650 S. Maltman in Los Angeles on January 15, 1947. He picked up Beth one night when he had tickets for a radio show. He said he was going to take Lynn Martin, but she wasn't home, so he asked Beth. They were too late when they got there, so he drove her out to the Sunset Strip, where, he said, they parked and talked for awhile before he took her home. He described her, saying, "She wore a black satin skirt with a sweater - a pink sweater. Always wore something in her hair."

Bacos claimed he was not attracted to Beth and often stayed away from her.

"I used to see her with a lot of people. As a matter of fact, for my part I tried to avoid her as much as possible. I was new in radio and made contacts, and she dressed kinda cheaply, you know, too obvious and everything. It was best for me especially. Where you would see her most was around CBS I couldn't afford to be seen with the wrong kind of people."

He told investigators he had seen Beth about twelve times. Bacos was also a friend of George price, who had photographed Lynn in the nude. He said he frequented Brittinghams, the restaurant in Columbia Square.

(15) Francis Campbell:

Campbell was on duty at the Crown Grill the night of January 9, 1947.

(16) Queer Woman Surgeon:

Elizabeth Short may have made contact with a female abortionist in the San Fernando Valley. There is no positive identification of this person.

(17) Dr. Paul De Gaston:

DeCaston was identified as an abortionist who practiced under the alias, Dr. C. J. Morris in downtown Los Angeles. He was tried for murder in 1934 and served time for performing abortions. His name and address were found in Elizabeth Short's address book after her murder.

(18) Dr. A. R. Brix:

A business card for Dr. Brix was found in the effects of Elizabeth Short after her murder. Dr. Brix said she visited his office once, inquiring about his charges for treatment of female trouble. He said she did not return.

(19) Dr. M. M. Schwartz:

Dr. Schwartz was located in the Cherokee Building on Hollywood Boulevard, less than two blocks from the Chancellor. Mark Hansen said he drove Elizabeth Short to Schwartz's office. The Doctor said she was a patient of Dr. Faught, with whom he shared a nurse in the Cherokee Building.

(20) Dr. Arthur McGinnis Faught:

Dr. Faught, who died in 1949, treated Elizabeth Short for a problem with her Bartholin gland, a lubricating gland in the vagina. According to Dr. Schwartz, Dr. Faught had lanced the gland several different times.

(21) Dr. Patrick S. O'Reilly:

Dr. O'Reilly was a good friend of Mark Hansen and spent time at the Florentine Gardens. He was arrested and convicted of assault with a deadly weapon in the sever beating of his secretary in a motel.

(22) Mark Hansen:

According to Mark Hansen, it was Sid Zaid who first introduced him to Elizabeth Short, when he brought her to his home. "I didn't know anything about the girl at all."

Hansen said, "The last time I saw the girl was when I took her to the Chancellor Apartment over there. I never seen her since. She never showed up after she called up and say she was in San Diego." She didn't like the Chancellor, he said, and that women were attacking her there, indicating they were lesbians. He also said she didn't like them.

Anne said that he thought Gordon Fickling was her killer. "He right away thought he was the one that did it. That is what he insisted upon."

Anne said that Hansen had a vacancy at one of his rooming houses around the time of the murder. When asked by authorities later, he couldn't recall if he did or not. They asked him, "Now, would you be willing to cooperate with the police department and the District Attorney's office to the extent that you would permit the laboratory experts - crime lab of the police department to come out and check for blood in all the rooms of these two rooming houses?" Hansen replied, "Oh sure."

In January, 1949, Conwell L. Keller, a LAPD officer and former gangster squad member, testified at the Black Dahlia investigation. He was asked, if he thought he had a pretty good suspect "in Hansen possibly?" Keller replied, "Yes. He is mixed into it somewhere."

Female Suspects

"Police made a complete about face today in their efforts to find the torture-murderer of pretty Elizabeth Short, and began an intensive search for a woman, rather than a man, as the mutilator of the 'Black Dahlia.'

Former roommates of the strikingly beautiful 22-year-old girl were placed first on the list of those to be questioned. The decision to change all previous tactics of the week-long search came after a meeting of the city's top-ranking police officials which began last night and lasted well into the morning hours.

Prime suspect in the new drive is a girl roommate who disappeared Jan. 15, the day Miss Short's tortured and mutilated body, hacked in two, was found in a lover's lane.

Adding to the belief that the girl's slayer may have been a woman were two factors.

First, she was known to be in Los Angeles Jan. 9 without any luggage which would indicate she spent the week before she was killed with some woman who could provider extra clothing and makeup.

Second, police officials said they believed the killing followed a pattern of other horror-murders by women."

~ United Press,

January 21, 1947

Investigators asked those who knew Beth Short about lesbians, homosexuals or "queers," the term they used most often. They asked Anne Toth, didn't she "at one time or another indicate to you at least she wasn't fond of queer women, did she indicate that to you?" Ann replied, "No, she always made the statement, very queer people in this town, queer people, referring to both men and women I guess. That is the only thing referring to queers that she ever mentioned, but I doubt it very much."

They asked George Bacos, "Did you ever see her at any time talking to any queer women?" Bacos answered, "I don't believe I did, no."

They asked other witnesses similar questions, but were unable to make a connection. Anne, who found a place for Beth at the Chancellor, did not believe Beth was afraid of the women at the Chancellor. She said, When I first went there, there was an English nurse - or there was an English girl that worked at the Gotham, a nurse, two big Texans, two musicians, I think they were the ones that were dragged in for that narcotic thing. Betty called me and told me about it."

When investigators asked Anne if Beth was afraid "of those two Texans," Ann said, "She was afraid she might be implicated in it."

Maps

Citizen's Witness Plan

Norton & 39th

Beth Short's L.A.

Suite 215 in the Cherokee Building on Hollywood Boulevard held just two medical offices. Dr. Arthur M. Faught was a physician from Nebraska who had once been a surgeon for the Union Pacific Railroad. The doctor had the corner office in suite 215 for about 23 years before he died in late 1949. His brother Claude helped out in the office with bookkeeping and financial matters. The doctor also had a nurse, Mrs. Lillian Zickler.

Dr. Melvin Schwartz was the other doctor in Suite 215. He was a younger man, in his late 20’s. Dr. Schwartz was a dentist. He also had a nurse, Miss Barbara Martin. The two doctors got along well. Dr. Faught usually left his office for home between three and four in the afternoon. If patients wandered in, Dr. Schwartz would evaluate their needs, and if they weren’t urgent, he would tell them to come back the next day when Dr. Faught was in. Dr. Schwartz said, “- occasionally a straggler, someone walking the Boulevard, walking around looking for a doctor would happen to land up there.”

Whacked Out

One afternoon, after Dr. Faught had left for the day, a young woman walked into the office and asked for the doctor. Dr. Schwartz talked to her, explaining that the Doctor was gone for the day. He asked her the nature of her problem in order to see if she needed immediate attention or if she could wait until morning.

According to Schwartz, “she seemed to be rather reluctant to talk, this was in the reception room, there were other patients waiting, we stepped in Dr. Faught’s office and she related the fact that she had an inflamed gland.” She said that Dr. Faught had once lanced the gland for her and it had worked but now she needed to be treated again.

She told Dr. Schwartz that she thought she was allergic to rubber. “Every time I play around and have a rubber used on me, I get into this trouble.” Dr. Schwartz also said she told him, “Gee, I’m tired, I’m whacked out. I didn’t get in until about four or five o’clock this morning. I was practically in San Diego.” She said to Schwartz, “You’re a pretty good looking doctor.” He thanked her and she said, “Why don’t you examine me?” Schwartz said, “she proceeded to grab my hand, she lifted her dress, and I pulled my hand away and stepped away from her.”

Schwartz said it all happened quickly and then nurse Zickler “stepped into the office, and this lady in red, as they call her, disappeared.” Schwartz checked with Faught the next day, but he said she had not returned. According to Schwartz, Faught told him that she had been in previously, and referred to her “as a streetwalker, the type, pick-up type.” Schwartz said the young woman, “appeared to be a very fast individual, very fast, fastest woman I had ever seen.”

The Black Dahlia

Two uniformed policemen first came to the Cherokee Building and talked with Dr. Schwartz. “I was very much surprised that uniformed men came up on a case like that, inasmuch as I have seen and been around the police department as much as I have, I always thought that would be handled by plainclothesmen.”

Schwartz said, “They wanted to know the date or when we had seen what they referred to as the Black Dahlia, and told them the reason I’m so positive of the date we had seen her, we were addressing Christmas cards, and it was approximately 10, 12, 14 days before Christmas-.”

Later, when investigators showed a photograph of Elizabeth Short to Dr. Schwartz, he said, it “resembles her very, very closely, I’m inclined to think that was her.” He also said that Mrs. Zickler “appeared to be” positive that the young woman was Beth Short.

Dr. Schwartz said that Dr. Faught and Mrs. Zickler “called her the lady in red, she was known as the lady in red, I think she wore red nearly every time she came in, or had a red flower in her hair, I don’t know, they referred to wearing a carnation or some type of flower all the time.”